1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector. Specifically, the electrical connector is connected to electrical wiring, which is connected to an electrical control unit (ECU), and has a circuit board for controlling a motor-driven actuator.
2. Description of Related Art
A connector having a circuit board for controlling an actuator for driving a door of a vehicle air conditioner is disclosed in JP-A-H11-275801. The connector has a housing, a circuit board, a wire connection, and an actuator connection. The circuit board is disposed within the housing, and a control circuit is mounted on the circuit board. The wire connection is connected to electrical wiring, which is connected to an ECU. The actuator connection is connected to a motor-driven actuator.
In such a connector, the control circuit produces a control signal in response to an input signal from the ECU via the electrical wiring. The control circuit sends the control signal to the motor-driven actuator to control the actuator.
The inventors considered an actuator control system by using the connectors. In the actuator control system, the connectors having the circuit boards are connected in parallel to the electrical wiring extending from the ECU. The connectors are connected to respective actuators. The ECU communicates with the each circuit board of the connector via the electrical wiring. The actuator control system controls a plurality of actuators by using a time division multiple communication.
In such an actuator control system, if one of the circuit boards in the connectors is broken down, all of the connectors and the electrical wiring can be integrally changed to new ones. However, this increases the cost.
Instead, as shown in FIG. 14A-14C, only the connector 90b having the broken circuit board may be cut to remove it, and a new connector 90d may be electrically connected between connectors 90a, 90c through the electrical wiring W/H. However, it is difficult to connect the new connector because of the required processes, such as swage process, soldering process, and isolating process.